FORUM: 85/100CM MAST IN WING FOIL !!!

With the arrival with our range of the 85cm Mast, it was important to give you all the possible information that will eventually help you make your choice between the 85cm and the 100cm Wing Foil.

“Hello,

I will try to expose all the advantages of each length in Wing:

Note that the 70cm is dedicated to beginners for its reduced lever arm and therefore the strong feeling of induced control . But we won’t use it as a Wing Mast except for very shallow spots.

So let’s focus on the 85cm and the 100cm.

The Mast is a stilt. If your stilts are long or short, you have benefits and losses.


Here’s a review of why?


Getting in the water: the 85 is better. You really need less bottom to get out, and it’s easier to hold in the waves. It can also be a determining factor on a Board that sinks because with a 100cm mast you need almost 2m of water to go…

Handling: the 85 is better. Clearly less cumbersome.

Take-off: ditto. The 85cm is sharper but the 100cm is more powerful. It’s quite close, but need to choose according to your personal dynamics.

Speed: the 100cm is better. You can charge hard without touching, this is the key to high speed foil engagement.

Heading: the 100cm is better. Angle without touching is obviously better.

Performance en lightwind : 100cm is better. Simply because in a lull you will have more margin to slightly pitch the foil and keep a glide through the Foil if the Wing does not pull anymore. And pumping is more powerful in 100cm.

Control in the chop: 100cm is better. It’s the distance between the water and the Board that does it all.


Foil control: 85cm is better. It feels docile because it is geometrically more controllable. Whatever the axis of the error, it will take less proportions.

Control in very strong wind: the 100cm is better. In more than 45 knots, you have to stay away from the water. The chop is such that the slightest touchdown will make you fall.

Surfing in glide: 100cm is better. The margin of error erasing is giant, you can put strong angles without breaching, and you have inertia. The must for the carving ++ smooth style.

Radical surfing: the 85cm is better. Control is the key to radicality. In 85cm you are safer and therefore more aggressive. And a shorter mast requires less time to change supports, it has less inertia.

Surfing the swell: l100cm is better. We need some margin to absorb the splashes, to get very off-center throws, to fly very high.

Rail to rail: 85cm is better. Going from heels to toes requires less force and less time with a short mast. That’s it.

Pivot: 100cm is better. With a long mast, we can go for curves far from our center of gravity, and offset to the extreme. So we’ll put the Front wings far into the lip, pivot on the spot and have the full height of the 100cm to absorb the descent.

Airs in the wave: the 85cm is better. Here it is clearly the control that brings the ultimate scoring. If you are confident, you can let loose.

Downwind: 100cm is better. To excel in DW you have to put the profiles at the key point of lift/slope in the water mass. The large deflection of the 100cm favors this search. We will also float with the surface to maximize the slope and limit friction. 100cm margin to hang up a small breach, it helps!

Pumping: idem. The 85cm is easy to pump because it rarely overwhelms you. But the 100cm frees the HP and limits the profile breaching. So the ball is in the center court.

Pop: the 85cm is better. The impulse is a phase of energy accumulation/release. With a shorter mast this time is shorter, so the impulse is sharper. Unless you make a big hit just before take off.

Jumps: 85cm is better. Learning jumps is less scary with a shorter mast.

High jumps: the 85cm is better. Sharper impulse, more control in the air and landing.

Receptions: 85cm is better. You’ve got the upper hand on it while the 100cm can easily overtake you, on a flying landing such as with a Railey or nose dive.

Tricks: the 85cm is better. Compactness is the key to tricks. And the risk of losing control on landing is more manageable.

Loops: 85cm is better. More pop, more control, less flutter in the air, you’re better at 85cm.

Tacks: 100cm is better. We’re far from the water in 100cm, so we breach the tips less and we have room to assert yourself  in the curves.

Jibes : idem. We have more height to erase errors in 100cm, but we have more control in 85cm. So it’s a draw.

Safety: 85cm is better. Because it is more controllable, the risk of seeing it go against your will and twisting your ankles in a strap is less. But it puts the front wing and stab closer to you! And it will make you fall more often in the chop. But it will be less vicious in critical situations.

Strength: 85cm is better. Because it’s thicker, and offers less leverage.

I think you know everything.

thanks.”

Advisor: Patrice Guénolé and his GONG Foil Allvator Carbon mast 85 and 100.

Gear of the sesh

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